"I am entirely devoted to the convent."
"That is understood.
You will close the coffin.
The sisters will carry it to the chapel.
The office for the dead will then be said. Then we shall return to the cloister.
Between eleven o'clock and midnight, you will come with your iron bar.
All will be done in the most profound secrecy.
There will be in the chapel only the four Mother Precentors, Mother Ascension and yourself."
"And the sister at the post?"
"She will not turn round."
"But she will hear."
"She will not listen.
Besides, what the cloister knows the world learns not."
A pause ensued.
The prioress went on:--
"You will remove your bell.
It is not necessary that the sister at the post should perceive your presence."
"Reverend Mother?"
"What, Father Fauvent?"
"Has the doctor for the dead paid his visit?"